Not wanting to shirk my civic duty two years in a row (after getting excused from jury duty last year), I went to the Lane County Courthouse this morning to report for jury duty. I was all revved up - prepared for a patriotic adventure. Maybe I'd even be a foreperson. I'd get to be the one to say that we found in favor of the plaintiff, just like on Ally McBeal or The Practice or a John Grisham novel. Just as long as the trial was speedy, I wouldn't gripe too much. Sat on folding chairs with a hundred other people in the basement of the courthouse. There appeared to be one other student-age person there; most people fit the working-class middle-age demographic.

The morning started with a rousing video about how we're all taking part in a "cornerstone of democracy," and how Thomas Jefferson considered trial by jury a crucial part of our new country. Screenshots of "Th. Jefferson"'s signature and the words "trial by jury" in faded calligraphy. Then we learned about Martha (don't really remember her name), who thought she was just too busy to serve jury duty. Poor, misguided Martha. But then, when she learned that she had to serve, she looked around to see how the courts serve us today. Screenshots of Martha looking thoughful, overlaid with images of a courthouse, overlaid with a shot of a flag waving in the breeze. Cue the patriotic background music. I learned so much from Martha's story.

We were divided into panels named after the seven dwarfs (yours truly was in "sleepy") and awaited going upstairs, where the final jury selection for a handful of trials would happen.

A half-hour later the woman in charge let us know that all of the jury trials for the day had been cancelled for various reasons (mostly plea bargains). We were all dismissed. Feeling only a small sense of being slighted out of my chance to set the innocent free, incarcerate the guilty, and be as cool as Martha, I walked out the door with my fellow compatriots. Went to the Beanery and bought a mexican soy mocha.